 However, as a gesture both to Wang's role as personal protector of Mao, and also to signal that political foes would no longer be persecuted, Wang was elected to the very last alternate position of the CPC Central Committee at the 12th National Congress, in 1982.Wang died on 21 August 2015 in Beijing at the age of 99 (100 according to Chinese tradition).After Mao’s death, Wang remained a constant supporter of the Chairman's memory, always visiting the mausoleum in Tiananmen Square with flowers on Mao’s birthday, and also published a diary in 1993 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mao’s birth.